FROM peep shows to cheeky jugglers, the weird and wonderful street theatre of Stockton International Riverside Festival came to life yesterday.

Visitors escaping a cloudburst were entertained with theatrical sights, circus highlights and musical delights as the festival celebrates its 21st year.

Among the high street highlights, two marionettes performed a “comedic and sexy exploration” of the relationships between the sexes in Corpus’ Le Grand Peep Show.

A small caravan - the ChromaVan - provided the perfect place to relax, inviting small groups to enjoy a soothing light and colour experience.

Part of the high street was transformed into a beach for Desert Island Discs by Artizani, a show full of gags, tightrope walking and buried treasure.

Elsewhere Australian juggler Great Scott wowed the crowds.

Off the high street in the Municipal Buildings car park is Metro Boulot Dodo’s haunting winter - where icicles creep under cupboards and melodies seep through walls.

At Arc tonight and tomorrow the Riverside Festival welcomes Gob Squad and their unique show Super Night Shot. The action starts an hour before the audience arrives, when Gob Squad take to the streets of Stockton with video cameras to shoot a live film.

Each performance of Super Night Shot is as unique as the town in which it is filmed.

Sarah Thom, of Gob Squad, said: “Super Night Shot is a completely unpredictable show, which elevates the everyday into the epic and plays with people’s perceptions of the familiar. Anything can happen and usually does.”

Catch Super Night Shot at Arc at 9pm. Tickets £6 and £4 concessions are available from Arc on 01642 525199.

For full details of times and venues for the festival and the Fringe Festival go to www.sirf.co.uk

Tonight’s performance of An African Circus at 8pm has been cancelled. Despite having work permits, the company was denied work visas. A festival spokesperson said they were grateful for all the help of Stockton South MP Dari Taylor in her efforts to resolve the situation.